1 . In October 2023, 3-year-old Journey Castillo completed a quest to visit all 63 of America’s national parks. Her parents, Eric and Valerie Castillo, said she is likely the youngest person to reach that milestone.
The family, from San Antonio, Texas, ended their travels with a trip to Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. “Mission complete,” they wrote on Instagram. “After three years of adventure, countless logistics work and not giving up, we could not be more proud to share the conclusion of our quest.” Journey hasn’t been officially verified as the youngest traveler to visit all 63 parks. But more important than the title, her parents say, is the experience.
“Our thing was: ‘Let’s… inspire in Journey a passion for nature, inspire in her that she can handle the strenuous parts of the traveling: the environments, the weather changes, different cultures.” Valerie Castillo told The Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas.
Before she could walk, Journey Castillo’s parents set out to visit every national park in the U.S. They hiked up Pikes Peak and explored Rocky Mountain National Park, all with an infant in tow. As far as they could tell, Journey seemed to enjoy herself.
“We could see her little eyes open and take it all in,” Valerie Castillo told the San Antonio Express-News last year. “She was so aware, even being a few days old. She’s adapted so well.”
They then ventured to Grand Canyon National Park — and decided to keep going. They set a goal of visiting 21 parks by Journey’s first birthday, then 42 parks by her second birthday. Eventually, they decided to go for all 63 parks. The family has been documenting every step of the way on Instagram and their website, Journey Go Explore.
Reaching the last few parks on their list — all in Alaska — required lots of logistical management, including renting flights, ferry rides, and even special permission from the National Park Service to visit a seasonally closed park. Though their visit was challenging at times, the Castillos say it helped their daughter develop confidence. Journey walks fearlessly through airports and happily greets park rangers. “When she’s out at these parks, she comes to life, and her personality brightens up,” Eric Castillo said.
1. Why did Journey Castillo’s parents take her to visit all America’s national parks?A.To inspire others to be more active. |
B.To document their travels on Instagram. |
C.To inspire a passion for nature in Journey. |
D.To break a record as the youngest traveler. |
A.identical | B.appealing | C.mild | D.challenging |
A.She was uninterested in the surroundings. |
B.She adapted well and seemed to enjoy herself. |
C.She preferred staying indoors with her parents. |
D.She only enjoyed specific environments and attractions. |
A.Shy and introverted. | B.Reliable and anxious. |
C.Fearful and splendid. | D.Enthusiastic and confident. |
2 . Forgiveness is often defined as a deliberate decision to let go of feelings of anger toward someone who you believe has wronged you.
Understand your emotions. Becoming aware of the emotions you are experiencing is an important part of learning to forgive yourself.
Treat yourself with kindness and compassion (同情). The key to self-forgiveness lies in treating yourself with the same kindness that you would show to another person.
Express regret for your mistakes. As a result of taking responsibility, you may experience a range of negative feelings, including guilt and shame.
A.Accept responsibility for your actions |
B.Make an effort to do better in the future |
C.You should try to avoid being self-critical |
D.It’s completely normal to have such feelings |
E.A little self-forgiveness also goes a long way |
F.Research has found that identifying your emotion helps reduce its strength |
G.However, while you may be quite generous to forgive others, you may be much harder on yourself |
3 . It was July 15, 2021, and my friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday.
Earlier in the day I had prepared for the
As I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by the
I admit it, I began to
Any effects of the celebratory drinks I’d had earlier were now gone. I heard the garden door starting to crack under the
I tried to pull the door open, but the force of the water wouldn’t
If I had
I came close to drowning that day. But rather than keep thinking about that, I prefer to
A.unimportant | B.unlikely | C.unnoticed | D.unbearable |
A.warning | B.report | C.challenge | D.statement |
A.Besides | B.Moreover | C.Therefore | D.Still |
A.air | B.sand | C.water | D.someone |
A.laughed at | B.appreciated | C.blamed | D.shouted at |
A.coldness | B.push | C.sound | D.fear |
A.moved | B.excited | C.inspired | D.shocked |
A.grabbed | B.lost | C.forgot | D.left |
A.operate | B.reflect | C.panic | D.cry |
A.powerful | B.quiet | C.broad | D.winding |
A.guidance | B.control | C.protection | D.pressure |
A.equipment | B.belongings | C.surroundings | D.escape |
A.thrown away | B.cut up | C.torn apart | D.broken into |
A.help | B.let | C.stop | D.influence |
A.managed | B.tried | C.determined | D.expected |
A.bedroom | B.backyard | C.hallway | D.basement |
A.woken up | B.jumped down | C.moved away | D.run out |
A.secretly | B.tragically | C.accidentally | D.possibly |
A.request | B.recall | C.realize | D.research |
A.survived | B.recovered | C.matured | D.refused |
4 . Lonely Planet’s best in travel destinations for 2024 revealed
To mark its 50th anniversary, Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2024 has expanded from the top 10 best cities, countries, and regions to include two new categories of best value and best sustainable destinations, recognising a total of 50 locations across the globe offering amazing experiences to enjoy in 2024.
Spain tops the sustainable travel list, having taken enormous strides to boost off-season travel, expand renewable energy, spread visitors across the year, and bring tourism to previously overlooked destinations.
Wales too has been recognised as one of those leading the way in sustainability, thanks to its rebuilt railways expanding the possibilities of exploring the nation’s wild, wonderful west.
And bouncing back strongly from the 2020 bushfires is Kangaroo Island, which remains one of South Australia’s great ecotourism destinations.
Slow Travel, a favourite topic with Lonely Planet readers, is celebrated by highlighting the Portuguese Way hiking trail and the continued rise of night trains in Europe.
Meanwhile the popular sun-kissed country of Croatia is now easier to explore with the opening of the Peljesac Bridge shining a spotlight on the previously overlooked Peljesac Peninsula and a new highway means it’s now possible to travel directly between Split and Dubrovnik.
Algeria, the USA’s Midwest, Greek island of Ikaria and Normandy are just a few of those great value and often overlooked destinations, ideal for the cost-conscious traveller.
For those seeking to enjoy the great outdoors, the new Western Balkans’ Cycle Route is set to open in 2024 and Far North Scotland is bidding for UNESCO status for its unsung boggy area and a coastline of heartbreaking beauty.
1. Lonely Planet’s has expanded Best in Travel 2024 mainly to ________.A.Response to negative comments on previous lists. |
B.Fill diversity in Travel Preferences. |
C.Mark its 50th anniversary. |
D.Respond to a decline in travel interest. |
A.Opening of the Peljesac Bridge. | B.Expansion of renewable energy. |
C.Repair and rebuilding of railways. | D.Building a new highway in Ikaria. |
A.North Scotland. | B.Croatia. | C.Greek. | D.Western Balkans. |
5 . The two Greek words — “philo”, which means love and “Sophia”, which means wisdom, are the beginnings of the word we use today: Philosophy, the love of wisdom.
Most people have a philosophy on life. Everybody has an idea of what is right and what is wrong, and why things are the way they are, and who they are and who to trust. A lot of people believe somebody else’s philosophy. That person may be a religious or political leader, or anybody you look up to. Some people have their own philosophy on life which might be a mixture of theories. Others are philosophers: people who want to know the truth about life for themselves and spend their time studying, thinking and asking questions.
Today philosophers are still encouraging people to think. Schools in some countries teach philosophy to children. Reading books written by old philosophers can be difficult because the language is from the past. So stories are used to help schoolchildren make their own decisions about what is right and wrong and think about the best way to solve problems.
Why do we need philosophy? There are plenty of people who think that killing animals is cruel, but eating animals is fine. If you are one of these people, you should ask yourself why. Why is killing animals cruel? Why is it okay to eat animals? You might find that the answer to each question is very different and you could have an argument by yourself using your own ideas! Go on and argue — you will understand more about what you believe. You will begin to understand the subject more deeply. And this helps you to feel comfortable with it. And you might change something or you might not. When we ask ourselves questions, we start to understand ourselves and our lives, and it’s up to us to make changes or not. If the ideas in your head agree, this means you have integrity. What you say and what you do are the same. Everyone respects someone who has integrity!
By thinking and questioning, we can understand more and maybe prevent problems caused by misunderstanding. But philosophy can also cause problems and conflict when people don’t agree. When one group of people choose one philosophy to believe and another group of people choose a different philosophy, when they need to think or make a decision together, they start trying to change each other instead of working together on bigger ideas about life.
1. What is the passage mainly about?A.The main conflicts among philosophers. |
B.The application of philosophical beliefs. |
C.The definition and function of philosophy. |
D.The pros and cons of philosophical discussions. |
A.Honesty. | B.Connection. | C.Belief. | D.Unity. |
A.To prove our own ideas. |
B.To bring about disagreements. |
C.To reduce cruel deeds in the world. |
D.To inspire thinking and seek answers. |
A.Misunderstanding helps prevent problems. |
B.Different choices make different philosophy. |
C.Philosophy can be both positive and negative. |
D.Conflicts and disagreement result from philosophy. |
6 . New Year’s resolutions have a bad reputation, at least in part, because people tend to grade themselves pass or fail when, in reality, they’ve made key improvements in various areas of their lives by mostly sticking to a resolution, experts say.
Make a detailed plan for achieving your goal.
Choose a goal you’ll enjoy. You’re more likely to succeed if you pick something you like to door if you can find a way to make it more fun. Research shows that people have more success achieving goals if they use a method known as “temptation bundling.”
Forgive failures. Don’t define success as pass or fail.
A.Set your New Year’s resolutions at the right time. |
B.Give your New Year’s resolution a cheerful start. |
C.A survey showed that about 4 in 10 made New Year’s resolutions. |
D.Other holidays, birthdays and even Mondays can be fresh starts. |
E.This includes thinking through ways to get over potential difficulties. |
F.Celebrate small successes even if you don’t achieve 100-percent success. |
G.If your goal is to get more exercise, do it with your favorite music on. |
7 . Stepping outside the railway station early on an morning, visitors are met with the view of the cold air joining the water, forming a thick, soft blanket of fog over the Grand Canal (运河), the “main street” of Venice. The church of San Simeone Piccolo and the neighboring buildings appear to be floating on the water of the lagoon. It’s a sight that has welcomed millions of visitors from all over the world since the great days of the Serenissima, when the city ruled as one of Europe’s economic superpowers.
Yet, the breath-taking beauty that inspired countless painters, writers and artists over the centuries remains at risk of being lost forever. Like the Abu Simbel temples, the city’s survival is threatened (威胁) by rising water levels. The increase in sea level has caused flooding to be a regular thing.
After 1966, the year of the worst flooding in Venice’s history, UNESCO and the Italian Government started a major project to save the city. Huge movable flood gates were used to protect the lowest areas from flooding. Thirty years later there is agreement on the successful results both of the technical achievements and international cooperation.
But Venice still needs attentive care, and its continued survival calls for careful watch. The city remains threatened on several aspects -mass tourism, the potential damage of city development and the steady stream of large ships crushing its weak foundations.
International pressure around the status of Venice led to the Italian Government’s decision in2021 to ban large ships from the city center. This decision came a few days after UNESCO announced its decision to put the city on its World Heritage in Danger list. Until a suitable docking place (码头) is developed, large ships will be allowed to pull up in Marghera, an industrial suburb of Venice. Such decisions show the difficulty of protecting historic cities and cultural heritage urban centers, which in this particular situation called for specially-made measures and techniques different from those made for the safeguarding of the Egyptian temples.
1. What can we learn about Venice from the first two paragraphs?A.Venice is Europe’s economic superpower. | B.Many artists are natives of Venice. |
C.The lagoon is a church in Venice. | D.The “main street” of Venice can be foggy. |
A.A celebration of life. | B.A painful lesson for all. |
C.A reflection of human nature. | D.A result of joint efforts. |
A.Technological advancements. | B.Tourism overload. |
C.The popularity of water sports. | D.Rising local population. |
A.The safeguarding of Venice is in process. |
B.UNESCO called for immediate Venice Ship Ban. |
C.Italian government was struggling for protection measures. |
D.The measures to protect Egyptian temples are copied in Venice. |
8 . Authentic Is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2023
The Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is “authentic.” Authentic food. Authentic voice. Authentic self Look ups for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary eampany’s site but were put to new heights throughout the year, editor at large Peter Sokolowski told The Associated Press.
“We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” he said before the announcement of this year’s word on November 27. “What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”
Sokolowski said that this year interest in the word authentic did not increase suddenly at any particular time, but that the word was a constant object of interest. This was the year of Al, and also of a moment when ChatGIPT-maker Open AI suffered a leadership crisis. Taylor Swift and Prince Harry looked for authenticity in their words and deeds. Elon Musk, at February’s World Government Summit in Dubai, requested the heads of companies, politicians and other leaders to “speak authentically” on social media by running their own accounts(账号).
“Can we trust whether a student wrote this paper? Can we trust whether a politician made this statement? We don’t always trust what we see anymore,” Sokolowski said. “We sometimes don’t believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.”
Merriam-Webster’s entry for authentic provides several definitions. There is “not false or imitation(模仿): real, actual.” There’s “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” There’s “worthy of acceptance or belief as based on fact.” And there is “made or done the same way as an original(原版).”
1. Which of the following is the reason why authentic is chosen the word of the year?A.A good many significant events are related to the word. |
B.The word is looked up on the online dictionary routinely. |
C.The word was voted out by many netizens questioning it. |
D.The searches of the word reached a high level this year. |
A.To introduce those who have lost authenticity. |
B.To emphasize continued attention to the word. |
C.To highlight the importance of being authentic. |
D.To prove the sudden popularity of the word. |
A.Few people are trustworthy nowadays. |
B.Students are expert at cheating with AI. |
C.Authenticity can be created on purpose. |
D.People are more likely to be tricked by eyes. |
A.He is a man of authentic charm. |
B.I don’t know if the painting is authentic. |
C.This is an authentic description of the situation. |
D.This is an authentic model of the ancient town. |
9 . A series of frog like crouches (蹲). A personal best time of four hours on a typically 15-minute road. This is how Julya Hajnoczky describes her slow and unusual way of hiking. For weeks each year, the photographer walks along footpaths in some of Canada’s most amazing wild spaces. She takes a close look at moss (苔藓) or mushrooms while other visitors speed by. “It must be how cyclists feel on the highway when they’re getting passed by trucks,” she says. Sometimes, though, hikers stop and ask what she sees that they don’t. She’s happy to explain-after all, that’s the point of her project.
In 2017 Hajnoczky designed and built an eight- foot-long movable “home”, which was named the Alfresco Science Machine. Painted forest green, it houses almost everything needed for fieldwork: a bed, a camp kitchen, binoculars and hand lenses, collection permits, field guides, small bottles and specimen (标本) — collection tools, sunscreen, bug repellent. Also Hajnoczky’s searching rules: Pick a minimal amount of plentiful, dead, or abandoned things—never rare species or live animals—and return them when finished.
The resulting photos are the small models of Canadian landscape and make up her ongoing project: At the Last Judgement We Will All Be Trees. Deeply worried about humanity’s relationship with the environment, Hajnoczky describe the images as “elegiac, dark, sorrowful,” as still lifes (静物) created while there’s still life. Yet they’re also fascinating. Slow down, they seem to say. Look with amazement at the natural world and see the importance to protect it.
1. Why are cyclists mentioned in the first paragraph?A.To highlight the popularity of cycling. | B.To vividly show her pace of hiking. |
C.To suggest an unusual way of life. | D.To stress environmental protection. |
A.Record the lives of rare species. | B.Collect as many plants as possible. |
C.Feed the live animals along the way. | D.Take pictures of a forgotten part of nature. |
A.Deep. | B.Sad. | C.Delightful. | D.Bright. |
A.An Insightful Documentary of Wilderness | B.Speedy Adventures in Canada’s Wild Spaces |
C.The Benefits of Hiking in Nature | D.A Slow Journey through Nature’s Wonders |
The Maryland Zoo’s Zoo Teen Program is an exciting way for high school students aged 14-17 to learn about zoos and animal protection, explorer opportunities, gain leadership skills, earn service learning hours, meet lifelong friends and so much more.
This is a year-round volunteer program. All teen volunteers will start as Zoo Guides, who make sure that a zoo visit starts on a pleasant, comfortable, and informative note by answering general questions about the zoo in a helpful and enthusiastic way, and by pointing out all the great exhibitions, events, and programs available. After successfully completing summer volunteer requirements as a Zoo Guide, Zoo Teens may choose the volunteer task(Guest Engagement and Education or Conservation and Research) that they would like to join in.
Zoo Teen Program Requirements
·Hand in a completed application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
·Attend a group interview and be accepted into the program.
·Complete the Zoo Teen Volunteer Boot Camp.
·Meet a monthly requirement of 4 shifts(轮班)for at least one year(shifts will be scheduled on the same days each month).
·Attend at least 3 preservation service projects.
·Attend end-of-summer off-site preservation field trip project.
Important Dates
·January 31: Zoo Teen Program Application Opens
·April 14: Zoo Teen Program Application Closes
·May 6,7,13,21: Interview Dates
·May 30: Choices Made
·June 19 -23: Zoo Teen Volunteer Boot Camp(9: 00am -4: 00 pm daily)
Questions? Please contact the Volunteer Office at volunteers@marylandzoo. org or call 443-552-5266.
1. What do volunteers do at first?
A.Help organize exhibitions. |
B.Choose their preferred volunteer task. |
C.Go on a field trip with experts |
D.Provide information for zoo visitors. |
A.Joining a 5-day Boot Camp. |
B.Having a one-on-one interview. |
C.Working at least 3 days a month. |
D.Attending a monthly preservation project. |
A.On April 14. | B.On May 21. | C.On May 30. | D.On June 23. |